KALAMAZOO — Kalamazoo City Clerk Scott Borling said it was a judgment call on whether to mail 31,000 outdated sample ballots to registered, city voters this week that included the name of deceased state senate candidate Robert B. Jones.

Having already spent $6,000 for printing and with a deadline looming, Borling said his office came down on the side of providing voters with the most election information and adding a small disclaimer to the mailing.

Meanwhile, local election officials continue to wrestle with questions regarding absentee ballots that were distributed before Jones’ Oct. 17 death and the subsequent naming of Kalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell to replace him on the ballot as the Democratic nominee.

Borling said state election officials have ruled that people who voted straight-party Democrat on an absentee ballot that listed Jones’ name will not have their vote automatically counted for Hopewell.

So any absentee voter who cast a ballot that listed Jones’ name must request and cast a replacement absentee ballot if the person wishes to vote for Hopewell.

If the voters cast a ballot for Republican Tonya Schuitmaker, no other action is necessary.The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot and having it mailed to a voter is 2 p.m. Saturday. The Kalamazoo City Clerk’s office will be open Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. to handle absentee voting.

The final deadline for obtaining an absentee ballots is 4 p.m. Monday. Voters who cannot go the polls Tuesday can go to the city clerk’s office on Monday up to 4 p.m. and get a ballot, fill it out there, and hand it back to a staff member in the clerk’s office.

Someone who has already received and/or submitted an absentee ballot containing Jones’ name must hand-deliver, mail, fax or e-mail a scanned statement signed by them, requesting a new ballot.

The city’s tri-fold mailing includes a reprint of a sample ballot that city voters will see Tuesday. In addition, it has important voting and precinct information, plus lists voters can use to write down their selections in advance to speed up their time at polling places.

Borling said the mailing decision followed some debate.

“We went back and forth; should we send it out with Bob Jones’ name on the ballot or should we just cancel the mailing?” Borling said. “We decided the value of the other information that it included made it worth sending out and we didn’t want them to be a waste.”

Borling said he consulted the State Board of Elections to see if a small notice could be added to the pamphlet’s mailing label, calling attention to the candidate change.

A single line appears just above the mailing address that says, “Since printing, the State Senate race candidates have changed to: Tonya Schuitmaker, Republican and Bobby Hopewell, Democrat.”

The ballots used Tuesday at polling places across the 20th Senate District will all list Hopewell and Schuitmaker.

Borling predicted the changed ballot will result in it taking longer than usual to complete the city’s absentee count Tuesday.